Teaching on a platform is not the same as teaching in a room
People who have taught in classrooms often assume an online course is a recording of the same thing. In practice less time goes on live explanation and more on preparing materials, answering questions in writing, and keeping a distant group on track. The workload is easy to underestimate.
This article follows the usual sequence for a teacher using an open education platform: planning, building, publishing, running and revising. It describes general patterns, since platforms differ, and it makes no claims that a particular approach will improve results.
Before you build: decide what the course is
Start with a short written plan.
- Who is it for? Their prior knowledge, available time and devices.
- What should they be able to do at the end? Clear learning objectives guide every later choice.
- How long is it? A few short weeks usually holds attention better than an open-ended program, though this depends on the audience.
- Is it self-paced or cohort-based? Self-paced courses let people start any time, with less live support. Cohort courses start together and move through weekly steps, which suits discussion and deadlines.
- What are the licenses? If you want others to reuse your material, decide on an open license early, and make sure that images, text and clips you include are cleared for that purpose. Mixing in material you do not have rights to is a common problem.
Building the course
Structure
Divide the course into units, each with a clear purpose, a manageable number of items, and a short activity. Consistent layout from week to week reduces confusion. Short pieces of content are usually easier to produce and update than long ones, and the principle of limiting cognitive load argues against crowding too much into a single page.
Materials
Create or gather readings, videos, slides and exercises. Making a ten-minute video often takes much longer than the running time: scripting, recording, editing, captioning and checking can easily take several hours. This is an estimate that varies widely with experience and standards, so measure your own pace on one sample before planning the whole course.
Accessibility
Plan for it from the start. Add captions or transcripts to video, write descriptive text for important images, use clear headings and sufficient contrast, and avoid relying on color alone. Doing this while building is cheaper than fixing it later. Accessible course design helps more learners than expected.
Assessment and practice
Decide what the learner will do to practice and be checked. Auto-marked quizzes reduce marking time. Written work, projects and peer review give more depth but need more teacher attention. Match the type to your objectives and your capacity.
Testing
Go through the course as a learner on a phone and a laptop, and ask a colleague to try it. Broken links and unclear instructions show up quickly.
Publishing
Publishing usually means setting dates, enrollment rules, descriptions and prerequisites, and making the course visible in the catalog. Write the description honestly, including the time commitment and any costs, and check privacy and visibility settings before opening up.
Running a cohort
Once learners arrive, the nature of the work changes from building to supporting.
Communication. A weekly announcement setting out what to do and what to expect keeps people oriented. Respond to questions within a stated timeframe, such as one working day, and state that timeframe up front so you do not create an unlimited expectation.
Moderation. Forums need a visible teacher presence, particularly in the first week. Welcome introductions, correct misunderstandings gently, and deal quickly with unkind behavior. In larger courses, consider recruiting teaching assistants or experienced learners as helpers, while recognizing the limits of volunteer time.
Spotting trouble. Platform data may show who has not logged in or who is stuck on a particular quiz. A short, friendly message to someone who has fallen behind can bring them back, though not everyone will return, and that is normal in open courses.
Giving feedback
Feedback is often the largest single time cost, and it is where the experience of the learner is most affected.
- Automated feedback on quizzes is instant but limited. Write useful explanations for wrong answers instead of only marking them wrong.
- Individual written feedback is most valuable and most time-consuming. Using a rubric makes comments faster and more consistent.
- Common-error summaries. After a task, post a note about the mistakes you saw most often. This serves everyone for the effort of one message.
- Peer feedback can share the load, with clear criteria and a teacher check on quality.
What the workload really involves
A rough division of effort tends to appear: a large block of time up front to build the course, then ongoing time each week to support learners, then smaller periods for review and updating. The exact balance depends on class size, the amount of assessed work and how much support you offer. Teachers new to online delivery often report that it takes more time than expected, partly because written communication replaces quick spoken exchanges, but experiences vary.
Some practical ways to keep the load sustainable:
- Limit assessed items to what you can mark.
- Reuse and adapt openly licensed material rather than creating everything from scratch.
- Batch tasks, such as answering forum questions at set times.
- Keep a log of common questions and turn it into a course FAQ.
After the course: review and revise
When the cohort ends, look at the data and learner comments, note what confused people, and update the materials. Keep earlier versions if you share the course openly, so others can see what changed.
A balanced view
Teaching on an open platform can reach people who would never enter your classroom. It also asks for time, patience and some technical comfort, and results vary with the subject and the learners.